


Unconventional Dives

by DinoDoesWords



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, lifeguard AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22013434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinoDoesWords/pseuds/DinoDoesWords
Summary: Adora is a lifeguard just trying to get through the day. Catra, who doesn't particularly enjoy the pool, is dragged there anyway by Scorpia and Entrapta. Catra decides to make Adora's day a little more difficult. She's lucky she's cute.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 107





	Unconventional Dives

**Author's Note:**

> Source: I've been a lifeguard for far longer than I care to admit.  
> A little background: I pictured the pool this takes place at as a pretty sizable city pool with water slides and a lazy river and stuff like that.  
> Jargon bc I don't know how to not talk like a lifeguard:  
> lifeguard stand/stand - the place where the lifeguard watches the water from. Can be a chair or just a specific patch of ground.  
> guard office/office - the room that's basically lifeguard home base. It's where they keep equipment and personal belongings. Most pools have a phone; bigger ones might have a computer, microwave, lockers, etc. Also usually where the first aid equipment is.  
> PA system/PA - short for 'public address,' a system of speakers, a microphone, and other audio equipment used to make announcements to a big area such as a pool. Can also play music, if desired.  
> Cheese fries - god's gift to the concession stand industry.

Catra didn’t really want to go to the pool, but Scorpia and Entrapta had dragged her along anyway. Not that she really had anything better to do, at least. Maybe she could get some fun out of harassing the lifeguards.  
  
While Scorpia lay out tanning and Entrapta sat next to her people-watching, Catra headed over to the diving boards, which she had discovered last summer that she really enjoyed. Her childhood background in gymnastics and current fondness for free running gave her the ability to perform some pretty impressive dives.  
  
While waiting for her turn, Catra glanced over at the lifeguard watching the dive well. The guard was actually pretty cute - blonde hair in a ponytail, athletic build displayed by her two piece suit - but unfortunately she looked a little stuck up. Her posture was too good for Catra’s taste. Still, Catra wasn’t above showing off in front of cute girls.  
  
Catra knew the rules of the diving boards, but wasn’t fond of most of them. For her first dive, she elected to ignore these rules and flipped backwards through the air. As soon as she surfaced, she heard a crisp whistle. “No backflips,” said the lifeguard. Catra rolled her eyes and said nothing as she climbed out of the pool and got back in line.  
  
Next, Catra went off the board backwards but turned forwards into a graceful dive. She earned herself another whistle upon surfacing from this one. “You can’t go off backwards,” said the lifeguard. “Please familiarize yourself with the rules before you go off again. There’s a sign between the boards with all of them. If you break any more, there will be consequences. All of them are there for your safety.” Catra blatantly ignored the sign and got back in line.  
  
Her next dive was technically within the rules - a front flip with a half twist - but still engineered to bother the lifeguard, whom Catra had decided needed to calm down a bit. Instead of entering the water gracefully, she landed in a can opener, splashing the lifeguard. Upon surfacing, the lifeguard addressed her again, though this time without her whistle. “I know it’s not on the rule board, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t splash me,” she said.  
  
Catra did a few more dives that were impressive but within the rules, then decided to push her luck. She did another backflip. True to her word, the lifeguard said, “ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to sit here next to me for a bit. You can continue diving after that, but if you break any more rules you will have to speak with my manager.”  
  
“Cool, whatever. Let’s get this over with,” said Catra. She sat down at the base of the lifeguard stand.  
  
***  
  
Adora had been impressed with the dives this girl was doing, but she still had rules to enforce. Cute girls didn’t get a pass (unfortunately).  
  
She had to admit she was a little surprised when the girl sat down next to her stand without a fight, but it quickly became apparent she was treating this as the exact opposite of a punishment.  
  
“Hey lifeguard,” she called up from the ground. “I know I’m not allowed to do cool stuff ‘for my safety’ or whatever, but I obviously know what I’m doing. Why can’t you make an exception for me?”  
  
“Because even though you know how to do these dives without hurting yourself, someone less experienced might try to copy what you’re doing and get hurt,” Adora replied.  
  
“So why not just tell them I’m allowed to do cool stuff but they aren’t?” asked the girl.  
  
“I can’t predict what people are going to do before they go off. I wouldn’t know if they were going to try something beyond their skill level. This is the best way to keep people safe,” Adora responded. She was starting to get frustrated with this girl, but annoyingly also found herself impressed with the girl’s quick wit and ability to pick apart the rules. “If you have any more questions or comments, please direct them to my manager at the office up front. I have to focus on watching my water,” she added.  
  
Apparently getting this girl to stop talking was too much to ask for, however. After a few seconds of silence, Adora heard her voice from the ground again. “Hey lifeguard, that kid over there is running. Aren’t you gonna stop them?” It was clearly meant to bother her, but Adora held her ground.  
  
“Thank you for pointing that out; I didn’t notice them,” Adora replied. She blew her whistle and yelled “walk please!” across the pool deck.  
  
Adora was granted a few more seconds of silence before the girl spoke again. “Hey lifeguard, how much longer do I have to sit here?” she asked.  
  
“We’ll see,” Adora responded. “If you keep talking it will only get longer.”  
  
“That’s stupid. You do realize I’m not a child, right?” the girl responded.  
  
“If you act like a child, I’m going to treat you like one,” said Adora. The girl growled at this but went quiet.  
  
After a couple minutes, Bow came to take Adora off stand. “You can go now,” Adora told the girl, “but if I catch you breaking any more rules anywhere in the facility, you will have to speak with our manager.” The girl got up and got back in line at the boards. “Keep an eye on her,” Adora told Bow. As she walked up to the guard office, Adora watched the girl do a double front flip. Bow cheered for her when she surfaced.  
  
***  
  
“Adora, help me win this argument!” Sea Hawk yelled as soon as she stepped into the guard office for her break.  
  
“Oh god, what now?” asked Adora, crossing to the refrigerator for a snack.  
  
“Mermista says that Glimmer would beat me in a fight! You know that’s not true. C’mon, Adora, back me up here!” Sea Hawk said.  
  
“Mermista is absolutely correct,” Adora replied, sitting across from Sea Hawk at the table.  
  
“WHAT?” Sea Hawk yelled indignantly. “But Adora, you’ve seen my muscles! You know I’d win!”  
  
“I have, and I’ve also met Glimmer. She’d kick your ass,” Adora said.  
  
Mermista snorted from where she was sitting on the desk. “See, Sea Hawk? I’m right,” she taunted. Sea Hawk just grumbled and slouched down in his chair. Another guard, David, walked into the office after an apparent trip to the concession stand (evidence: cheese fries). Sea Hawk perked back up immediately.  
  
“David! Who would win in a fight, me or Glimmer? Adora and Mermista both answered wrong, but I know you know the right answer. Who would win?”  
  
David rolled his eyes. “Glimmer,” he said. Adora tried to steal a cheese fry, but he swatted her hand away.  
  
Sea Hawk screeched indignantly and stood up, slamming his hands on the table, to begin what would undoubtedly be a barely-coherent tirade about why he would beat Glimmer in a fight when the door to the office opened again. The girl from the diving boards walked in. Adora narrowed her eyes, then noticed the crying little boy standing behind her. Mermista hopped off the desk and crossed to them. “Come on in, can we help you with anything? My name’s Mermista; this is Adora, Sea Hawk, and David,” she told the girl.  
  
“Hey there Mermista,” said the girl. She acted bored, but Adora noticed the comforting hand she held on the boy’s shoulder. “This is Antonio. He needs help finding his mom.”  
  
“Okay. Antonio, can you tell me your mom’s name?” asked Mermista.  
  
“By the way,” said the girl, “he doesn’t speak English. Only Spanish, as far as I can tell.”  
  
“Uhh… I don’t speak Spanish…” Mermista said. Her cool facade faltered at this obstacle in what was otherwise an every-other-day occurrence at their pool.  
  
“I don’t either,” said David.  
  
“Uh… I speak German?” Adora offered.  
  
“I must confess, I also do not know any Spanish,” said Sea Hawk.  
  
“Well, it must be your lucky day,” diving board girl said sarcastically, “because I do.”  
  
“That’s great!” said Adora. “Can you ask his mom’s name? We can call for her over the PA system.”  
  
The girl said something in Spanish to the boy, who replied tearfully. The girl laughed in reply. “He says her name is mami,” she told Adora with a smirk.  
  
“Okay, well, can you try to get an actual name from him? ‘Mami’ isn’t enough,” Adora replied. She was a little annoyed with the girl’s attitude.  
  
Diving board girl exchanged a few more words with the little boy, then smiled and ruffled his hair. “His mom’s name is Vanesa,” she said after a moment.  
  
Mermista sighed in relief and crossed to the PA to make the announcement. “Okay, I’m making the announcement. Sea Hawk, keep your mouth shut until I’m finished.”  
  
“Anything for you, my sweet Mermista!”  
  
“Sea Hawk!”  
  
“Right, sorry, I’ll-” Mermista threw a pen at Sea Hawk, followed closely by a pointed glare. He closed his mouth and grinned sheepishly.  
  
Mermista turned to the microphone and switched it on. “Will Vanesa please report to the guard office? Vanesa to the office, thank you,” she said, then switched the microphone back off. Diving board girl said something to the little boy, then held out her hand for a high five, which he eagerly gave.  
  
After a few minutes, there was a knock on the office door. Adora opened the door to a frightened looking woman who rushed in and pulled the little boy into a hug. She kissed his head and exchanged a few words with him and the girl in Spanish, then left with the boy in her arms.  
  
“Well, that was fun. See you all later,” diving board girl said, before crossing to the door and leaving too.  
  
“Is this a good time to complain about that girl being an ass when I was on dive well earlier?” Adora asked.  
  
“Whatever, Adora, I can tell she’s your type,” Mermista replied with a smirk.  
  
“WHAT? She is- no she isn’t! She’s rude!” Adora protested.  
  
“So your type,” said David.  
  
“DAVID!”  
  
***  
  
Catra found the lifeguard from the diving boards - Adora, apparently - at the bottom of the waterslide later. “Hey, Adora,” she said as tauntingly as possible when she was within earshot. She could tell Adora was glaring a little bit behind her sunglasses.  
  
“Hello,” Adora replied.  
  
“So you really don’t have anyone working here who speaks anything other than English? Damn,” said Catra shaking her head.  
  
“We do, just no one who spoke Spanish happened to be in the office earlier,” Adora replied. She didn’t look at Catra, keeping her gaze focused on the pool.  
  
“Oh really? Whatcha got, then?” Catra asked, still taunting.  
  
“I speak some German. Another guard knows French. Another grew up speaking Vietnamese. Lots of the guards are in various language classes at school,” said Adora.  
  
“Oh wow, you’re all so impressive,” Catra replied sarcastically.  
  
“Can you please leave me alone? I need to focus on watching the pool,” said Adora.  
  
“Sounds like a cop-out, but sure,” said Catra. She turned to walk to the waterslide stairs.  
  
“God, you’re annoying!” Adora tore her gaze from the water to glare at Catra. Catra smirked to herself at having finally broken Adora’s composure. “I can’t believe _you helped that little boy.”  
  
“Hey, I’m an annoying asshole, not a heartless bitch,” Catra replied. Adora’s glare softened the tiniest bit.  
  
“If that’s the case, would you consider making my job just a little bit easier? I dislike it enough as it is,” Adora replied. There was more sarcasm in her voice than Catra realized she was capable of. Catra grinned at the challenge.  
  
“No way. You’re too fun to tease, princess,” said Catra. Adora’s eyebrows shot up as her cheeks went red. “Oh, you like being called ‘princess,’ huh?” asked Catra. “Or do you just like the idea of me teasing you?” The red spread across more of Adora’s face. She spluttered in protest, but she couldn’t get any actual words out before Catra ran up the stairs to the slide, laughing. She was about halfway up when she heard Adora whistle and call, “Walk please!” after her, voice breaking slightly. When she climbed the stairs out of the pool at the bottom of the slide, she winked at Adora before walking off.  
  
***  
  
Adora was sitting at the kiddie pool, bored because nobody was in it, thinking about the girl from the diving boards. She couldn’t decide how to feel about the girl. On the one hand, she was annoying as hell. On the other, well. First, her quick, snarky responses to everything Adora had said suggested she was probably pretty smart. Then there was the fact that she had helped that little boy. And of course, she was cute. She was built lean, like a runner, with a smattering of freckles across her face (freckles were Adora’s favorite), and Adora had noticed that her eyes were two different colors - one golden brown, one blue - which was frankly pretty cool. Plus, she was a really good diver, even if she broke most of the rules. Her personality definitely colored her dives - she wasn’t all pointed toes and splash-less landings like the dive team kids, but there was still a grace to the way she flew through the air.  
  
She wanted to ask Bow and Glimmer’s opinions, but of course she couldn’t just wander off to find them while she was on stand. She tried to imagine what they would say. Glimmer would probably say that the girl was definitely annoying, but if she was that cute, maybe it would be worth trying to figure out if she had a not-annoying side. Bow would probably say that she definitely had a not-annoying side somewhere since he always saw the best in people.  
  
_Well, thought Adora, _if she might not be annoying all the time, and she’s that cute, maybe I can give her a chance. Then, she realized - _I don’t even know her name! Ugh, I hope she’s still here…  
  
Sure enough, she appeared on Adora’s deck a few minutes later, this time with two other girls - one about as small as Glimmer with long, purple hair in two pigtails, the other very tall and very muscular, with short white hair and wearing lipstick for some reason - who wore makeup to the pool?? When she noticed Adora, she veered over to her, waving at her friends to stay where they were. “Hey there,” she said with a smirk.  
  
Adora realized by now that this girl seemed to live off of getting a rise out of people. She held her ground. “Hi. Are you ever gonna tell me your name?” Adora asked, meeting her gaze.  
  
The girl faltered for just a moment before her smirk grew into an almost-grin. “Catra. Glad to see you’ve pulled yourself together, princess.” Adora rolled her eyes. Catra held out her hand. Adora raised an eyebrow. “What, never heard of a handshake?” asked Catra. Adora took her hand and made sure to squeeze a little harder than she normally would. Catra didn’t flinch. “Is that what you use all those muscles for? Bone-crushing handshakes?”  
  
Adora rolled her eyes. “I like to keep in shape. Glad to know you’ve noticed them,” Adora said, allowing herself a bit of a smirk.  
  
This time Catra faltered noticeably at Adora’s words. “You know what, Adora, I like you. Can I get your number?” she asked. Her smile this time seemed genuine.  
  
“Sure thing,” said Adora. “But do you even have your phone with you…?”  
  
“I can remember it, don’t worry,” Catra replied.  
  
Adora raised an eyebrow, but recited her number anyway. Catra repeated it back to her with ease.  
  
“It was nice to meet you, Adora. I’m off to go break some more rules now!” Catra called as she walked away. Adora smiled to herself. Maybe she could get used to how annoying this girl was.  
  
***  
  
When Adora got to the office for her next down, she had a text from an unknown number.  
  
_[unknown] 14:27: what’s up princess it’s Catra  
  
Adora didn’t realize she was grinning as she saved Catra’s number until Mermista called her out. “Whatcha lookin’ at, Adora?” she asked, smirking.  
  
“Uh… funny message from Glimmer?” Adora replied. She had always been a pretty bad liar.  
  
“Sure. I saw you talking to that girl from earlier. I know she’s your type,” Mermista said.  
  
“She is not my type!” Adora protested.  
  
“Like hell. I bet you gave her your number!” Mermista said.  
  
“What??! No, I would never- she’s not- she’s not my type!” Adora said.  
  
“Oh my god, you totally gave her your number,” Mermista said as Sea Hawk walked in.  
  
“What? Adora gave someone her number?” Yelled Sea Hawk. “Who?” he demanded.  
  
“That girl who was in here on y’alls last down. The one she said was annoying and rude,” Mermista replied.  
  
“Mermista, stop- Sea Hawk, I didn’t-” Adora tried to protest but it was too late.  
  
“Adora, you dog! I didn’t know you had it in you, giving your number to someone you just met!” Sea Hawk said, putting his arm around Adora’s shoulders and pinning her to his side just as David walked in.  
  
“Adora gave her number to someone?” David asked. Adora sighed.  
  
“Yes, the girl who was in here on our last down!” Sea Hawk responded. Adora noticed Mermista smirking at her.  
  
“I knew she was your type!”_____

_____ _

  


____

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I'm gonna finish that Korrasami fic this is just more pressing. @ Noelle how dare you leave S4 on such a cliffhanger???  
> Adora absolutely has her phone in military time, don't @ me.  
> This is my first time writing these characters; sorry if they felt a little off!  
> If y'all like this AU let me know, I have more ideas for it! If there's enough interest I might write more.  
> I struggle with titles I'm sorry.


End file.
